Although the hydrolysis-hydrogenation of aldehyde acetals derived from acrolein has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,915, incorporated herein by reference, there are no reports on the conversion of 2-alkoxytetrahydrofuran or its derivatives to 1,4-butanediols or the corresponding 1,4-substituted-butanediols under such conditions.
It has now been discovered that 2-alkoxytetrahydrofurans can be readily converted to the corresponding 1,4-butanediol and derivatives in high yield. The starting materials are obtained by a method described in concurrently filed U.S. application Ser. No. 806,073 by William Edward Smith entitled "2-Alkoxytetrahydrofurans Via Hydroformylation of Allylic Alcohol", and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application.
Typical reactions are outlined as follows: ##STR1##
As indicated from the yield data (%), the process is particularly effective in providing high yields of valuable, polyester-forming butanediols. Furthermore, certain catalysts (pathways (4) and (5)) are also useful to co-produce corresponding lactones, which are valuable in their own right.